Senior White House officials acknowledged Wednesday afternoon that the new regime of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran “would not be sufficient” in and of itself to change the behavior of the Iranian government and convince its leaders to stop its nuclear weapons program.

But, they emphasized, these sanctions are just the beginning – the “1” of a “1,2,3 punch,” as one senior White House official put it.

The next step: on June 17 the European Council will meet and impose even stricter sanctions on Iran. Then Congress will pass additional tough sanctions, which the President will sign.